United States

October 12, 2013 ‘March Against Monsanto’ planned for Denver, CO in solidarity with over 50 countries

DENVER, CO. (October 12, 2013) – On Oct. 12, thousands of activists in Denver and surrounding areas will converge at the State Capitol at 11:00 a.m. in solidarity with the millions of activists from around the world, who will once again March Against Monsanto, calling for the permanent boycott of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) and other harmful agro-chemicals. Currently, marches will occur on six continents, in 52 countries, with events in over 400 cities. A comprehensive list of marches can be accessed at www.march-against-monsanto.com.

Speakers at the event are:

Gregg, The Bee Guru from Rocky Mountain Bee, operates the number one honeybee rescue operation in the country where they are dedicated to rescuing honeybees and relocating them to rescue sanctuaries along the Front Range. He will be talking about the demise of the essential honey bees and the insecticides called neonicotinoids behind it. Make sure to “bee” there to hear what he has to say… http://www.rockymountainbee.com/

Dr. John Lloyd DC will be speaking on how GMO’s can destroy our health and environment. A growing body of evidence connects GMOs with health problems, environmental damage and violation of farmers’ and consumers’ rights. He will discuss the consequences of altering the natural growth cycle of our food and the staggering effect of doing so. His philosophy is that the human body, when given the correct environment, has enormous potential to heal itself. He holds degrees from Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington and Logan University of Health Sciences in St. Louis, Missouri, among other accreditations. http://www.denverchiropracticdowntown.com/index.php?p=317254

Maximus Blesch has a business management degree and is a lifelong activist, having attended his first protest at age 12. He learned early on the importance of activism. He will discuss what Agent Orange is, when and how it was used, its lasting harmful effects and government compensation for exposed vets and their families. He will also discuss Children of Vietnam Veterans Healthcare Alliance (COVVHA) and the link between Agent Orange and GMOs.

GMOs are not adequately monitored to ensure public safety. Long term, independent, peer reviewed studies were not conducted before GMOs were introduced for human or animal consumption. In the USA, the revolving door between Monsanto employees, government positions, and regulatory authorities has led to key Monsanto figures occupying positions of power at the FDA and EPA. Monsanto has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to obstruct all labeling attempts; they also suppress any research containing results not in their favor. The scientifically established health risks include, but are not limited to: organ damage, sterility, infant mortality, birth defects, auto-immune conditions, allergies and increased cancer risks. GMOs have been partially banned by 16 countries, and are currently labeled in 62 countries.

Art is Activism for New Fishy Food Cars

GMO Food Labeling Activist Group to Visit Denver in August

WASHINGTON, DC – On August 6 seventeen activists will set out on a cross-country 3300-mile journey from the US Capitol to Seattle, Washington for what is being called the “Are We Eating Fishy Food Tour.” The tour features five mutant GMO art cars fitted with large roof-mounted sculptures and carrying information about the need for labeling genetically engineered (GMO) food. The tour begins at the west side of the US Capitol on August 6 at 10am and arrives in Seattle on August 15, where the fishy food cars will debut at Seattle Hempfest.Washington State is a national battleground over the GMO food issue. Voters there will decide this November whether foods with GMO ingredients should be labeled as such. The Are We Eating Fishy Food Tour will pass through thirteen states and nine state capitals with events along the way, including two events in Denver, a welcome dinner on August 10, and a rally at the Colorado state capitol building on August 12, beginning at eight thirty in the morning. A complete schedule of the tour can be found at www.AreWeEatingFishyFood.com

“The Fishy Food art car fleet’s cross-country swim from Washington, DC to Washington State will get people talking about the importance of GMO labeling,” says David Bronner, President of Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps, whose company supported the creation of the art cars.

Since 2011 there has been a rebirth in citizen activism around the issue of knowing what’s in our food. That year, theRight to Know March for GMO labeling walked 313 miles from Brooklyn, NY to the gates of the White House in Washington, DC. “The ‘R2K’ march was obscure to most people, but two years later there is widespread awareness of unlabeled GMO foods thanks to voter initiatives, increased legislative efforts, world-wide protests, and creative education efforts like the Fishy Food cars,” says Bronner.

Genetic Engineering means more pesticides. Chemical companies genetically engineer DNA from bacteria into food crops to either produce or tolerate the pesticides they sell. This foreign DNA produces foreign proteins in every cell of the plant that we eat in our food. No long-term independent safety studies have been performed on adverse health effects. Overuse of pesticide is creating resistant superweeds and superbugs, which leads to more pesticides being sprayed. Now chemical companies like Monsanto and Dow are engineering resistance in food crops to much more toxic weed killers like Dicamba and 2,4 D, the main ingredient in Agent Orange.

While over 60 countries—EU nations, China, Russia, Japan, Brazil, and South Africa included—require labeling of GMOs, US consumers can currently only rely on voluntary labeling to determine whether food products have been genetically altered through gene splicing technology.

Origins of the FishyFood Cars

The first car in the Fishy Food fleet was “Poppy,” aka FishyCorn Car. Created in September 2011 by César Maxit and DC51 artist collective. Fishy Corn was constructed with a frame made of welded steel and a skin of chicken wire and tape. The design was implemented for the Right2Know March, where Fishy Corn served as a support vehicle to carry leaflets, organic snacks and water, and to ferry people to the front of the march when they were falling behind. Later that year Maxit, working with welder & fiberglass artist David Jackson, began building a larger and more durable Fishy Corn sculpture from fiberglass with a heavy steel frame. The new and improved Fishy Corn car went to Monsanto headquarters in Creve Coeur, Missouri for the 2012 annual shareholder meeting with activist Adam Eidinger. He parked the car on the agribusiness giant’s campus and debated Monsanto’s CEO Hugh Grant on GMO labeling during the meeting. A secret videoof the encounter went viral online shortly afterwards.Fishy Corn then stayed in St. Louis with activists and after a few months swam to California to support Proposition 37, a GMO labeling voter initiative that failed by less than 2% in November 2012. In December, Fishy Corn made a southern tour with members of the Real Cooperative who returned it home to Washington, DC.In January 2013, Maxit began building four more Fishy Food creations using extensive volunteer labor from the Washington, DC community. By the beginning of March 2013, the Fishy Sugar Beet aka “Rooty” swam onto the scene. Since then, Fishy Apple aka “Goldie,” and Fishy Soy aka “Soja Girl” have been completed. Fishy Tomato aka “K-Sup” is was completed today July 15, 2013.

“People want healthier food than what GMO food has to offer,” says Rica Madrid, coordinator of the Are We Eating Fishy Food Tour. “You can measure the impact these educational vehicles are having by the reaction and excitement on people’s faces and the large number of shares we see in social media,” says Madrid.

Members of the media are encouraged to embed with the Are We Eating Fishy Food fleet for some or all of the tour. Contact Adam Eidinger at 202-744-2671 or adam@mintwood.com to make arrangements.

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Monsanto has spent the past three decades wrecking our environment, poisoning our bodies, and pushing species of crops to the verge of extinction with a wide array of toxic products. And Monsanto’s signature herbicide, Roundup, does all these things at once — but Monsanto has lied over and over and said that the product is perfectly safe. Yet independent research has found the chemical is creating herbicide-resistant superweeds, making a species of butterfly extinct, and disrupting normal human body functions.
Monsanto has inflicted awful damage upon the Earth and its inhabitants, but the company is finally facing significant blowback. Now, while the tide in the ongoing war of consumers vs. the agriculture giant is swinging our way, it is the time to call on Monsanto to tell the truth about the effects of Roundup.Tell Monsanto: Stop ignoring the deadly effects of your top herbicide. Provide more information about the real effects of Roundup.
After years of lobbying European governments to allow the cultivation of Monsanto GMO plants and seeds, Monsanto finally quit lobbying because the company could not gain support on the continent. This week, an American appeals court has prevented Monsanto from suing farmers that might inadvertently grow Monsanto laced crops.
We’re standing as consumers, shareholders and citizens of the world to say “enough is enough” and demanding Monsanto stop lying that Roundup is safe and start putting strict limits on the amount of Roundup it sells to any one area until we know more. Every day we delay is another species near extinction, another superweed created, another child who falls sick. But every signature we get brings us one step closer to stopping Monsanto from destroying our planet with Roundup — and showing Monsanto that we won’t let it continue leading us down that path of destruction.Monsanto: Stop lying that Roundup is safe and put strict limits on its use.

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Colorado, we want to hear from you!

We want to know why you have joined the fight for our food. The March Against Monsanto is two weeks away and we want you to help us spread the word. Leave a comment, send us a video, or maybe sing a song, just let us know why you are going to March Against Monsanto!

Send submissions to JustSayNoGMO.Denver@gmail.com. You never know, we may use your comment or submission for promotion or while talking with the media! Add your voice to the conversation!

Mr. Smith has counseled leaders from every continent, campaigned to end the use of genetically engineered bovine growth hormone (rbGH or rbST), and influenced the first state laws in the United States regulating GMOs. A popular keynote speaker around the globe, Mr. Smith has been described as “a life-changer”. Mr. Smith has lectured in 30 countries and has been quoted by world leaders and hundreds of media outlets including, The New York Times, Washington Post, BBC World Service, Nature, The Independent, Daily Telegraph, New Scientist, The Times (London), Associated Press, Reuters News Service, LA Times, Time Magazine and Genetic Engineering News. Mr. Smith is also a popular guest on leading radio shows and television programs, such as NPR and The Dr. Oz Show

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If you thought the Monsanto Protection Act was bad, wait until you hear about big biotech’s plans to permanently silence their critics in a state-by-state battle that strips local democratic decision making and puts America’s farmers, their seed supply and local agriculture at risk.

Some thought that the Monsanto Protection Act would only last 6 months, but at Food Democracy Now we know the real problem is that this is a part of a larger effort by the biotech seed and chemical giants to permanently and legally protect their flawed GMO products.

Late last Thursday afternoon in the Oregon legislature, a dangerous bill, SB 633, passed out of the Rural Communities and Economic Development committee by a vote of 3 to 2. If SB 633 – which is being called Oregon’s Monsanto Protection Act – passes the legislature, it will permanently strip Oregon’s farmers and citizens of the right to make local agricultural decisions that protect area farmers, local economies and organic seed production.

Known as a seed preemption bill, Oregon’s Monsanto Protection Act seeks to protect big biotech interests in Oregon. The region of Rogue Valley in Jackson County, a crown jewel of organic, non-GMO and heritage seed production, is being put at risk of permanent genetic pollution should this bill pass. The stakes couldn’t be higher!

Monsanto and the biotech industry are desperate to stop a farmer and citizen-led ballot initiative in Jackson County, Oregon that would ban the growing of genetically engineered crops in that county. Local farmers and residents have sought a ballot initiative to protect local organic and conventional, non-GMO farmers and their seed supply from being contaminated by Monsanto’s GMO pollen.

Already, Monsanto’s lobbyists are crawling through the Oregon capital trying to round up votes before the truth can come out publicly that they’re working overtime to undermine America’s basic democratic rights once again. But we won’t let them get away with it.

Ominously, the Monsanto Protection Act, Section 735 of the continuing resolution, H.R. 933, that passed last month in Washington DC and prompted endless controversy is now being cited as supporting evidence for the Oregon seed preemption bill. In an email to an Oregon constituent from Senator Arnie Roblan (D-Coos Bay) the bill’s chief sponsor and chair of the committee that the bill just passed out of, makes clear he’s doing the bidding of Monsanto and the biotech seed industry.

According to Senator Roblan’s office:

“With this background information in mind, and given that the DA promulgated rules through the APHIS, does the CFCAA, 2013, H.B. 933 § 735, impact a State’s ability to regulate GMOs? In essence, one reviewer of the act noted that ‘Even if the courts find that a (genetically engineered) crop shouldn’t be planted until more research is done about its safety, no one could stop that crop from being planted, even temporarily’ because Federal Law supersedes state law and most definitely, local Ordinance,” wrote Roblan’s office.

Under current Oregon law, local citizens have the right to make democratic decisions concerning local agricultural practices through ballot initiatives. And Oregon’s Monsanto Protection Act is seen as another corporate handout to agribusiness to protect biotech seed and chemical monopolies like Monsanto, DuPont and Syngenta from the growing number of American farmers and citizens who have become concerned about the flaws of genetically engineered crops and outraged over the undemocratic lobbying practices that these giant multinational companies use to deceptively garner growth in the marketplace at the expense of human and environmental health and farmers’ livelihoods.

Last month, because more than 300,000 Food Democracy Now! members stood strong against Monsanto, we have forced one U.S. Senator to publicly apologize, and the hometown paper of Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO), the alleged man behind the original Monsanto Protection Act, issued a blistering editorial against him and members of Congress.

Join us May 25, 2013 at the Colorado state capitol building, to stand in solidarity in protest with our global neighbors against the monopoly of our food supply. It is time to take back our food!

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ROUNDUPRoundup is the brand name of a systemic, broad-spectrum herbicide produced by the U.S. company Monsanto, and contains the active ingredient glyphosate. Glyphosate is the most widely used herbicide in the USA, and Roundup has been the number one selling herbicide worldwide since at least 1980.
Roundup (glyphosate) has been found to cause the death of human embryonic, placental, and umbilical cells in vitro, even at low concentrations. Glyphosate is toxic to human skin cells, through causing oxidative damage.
Roundup is used widely here in the United States. Through farming applications, these chemicals are released into our air, and the runoff from its heavy use contaminates our streams, and groundwater.

GMO FOODS
Initially introduced to the market in 1996, genetically modified foods or biotech foods are foods derived from genetically modified organisms. Genetically modified organisms have had specific changes introduced into their DNA by genetic engineering techniques. Typically, genetically modified foods are transgenic plant products: soybean, corn, canola, rice, and cotton seed, but there are many, many more. A majority of the corn and sugar beets grown in Colorado are genetically altered. In fact, they are two of the largest crops in the state.GMO products have been linked to organ failure, brain damage, autism, gene transfer, and have been banned in many countries including Japan, China, Hungary, Venezuela, France and Ecuador . Some of these countries have gone as far as banning ALL GMO products.
Monsanto has also developed a line of “Roundup Ready” products which go hand in hand with their herbicides, including Roundup Ready corn, Roundup Ready soybeans, Roundup Ready alfalfa, Roundup Ready sugar beets and Roundup Ready canola. These products are designed to make the plants resistant to Roundup, to keep up with the ever-increasing use of herbicides which contaminate our soil, air and water.
Almost all processed foods contain GMO products, usually in the form of corn (high-fructose corn syrup and modified corn starch being two prime examples). There is a growing movement across the U.S. to label foods containing GMO products, so consumers can at least have the knowledge of what they are purchasing.

MONSANTO INFLUENCES THE GOVERNMENT
Monsanto contributes hundreds of thousands of dollars every campaign cycle to politicians, from the federal down to the local level. Monsanto lobbyists are also involved in the political process and are rumored to be the actual authors of the “Monsanto Protection Act”.
Former Monsanto employees are involved in every level of government, from Obama’s recent appointment of Michael Taylor (former Monsanto vice-president of public policy) as Deputy Commissioner for Foods at the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas (a former Monsanto executive).
This “revolving door” between Monsanto and the government leads to the easing of regulations and more Monsanto products being used both here and abroad.

MONSANTO INFLUENCES THE SCHOOL SYSTEM
Under the guise of supporting education, Monsanto contributes massive amounts of money to schools and universities, usually in the form of helping develop their agricultural programs.
Monsanto uses this monetary influence to help push their products and research into our school system, from school gardens using GMO seeds to genetic , agricultural, and chemical research at the university level.

MONSANTO HURTS LOCAL FARMERS
Monsanto has gone into countries all over the world and introduced their GMO products, leading to a huge drop in biodiversity through cross-pollination and the use of industrial farming techniques. Locally owned family farms have seen their livelihoods devastated, and the health of their people decline through spraying of Roundup and other pesticides and forcing them to buy processed, inorganic foods because all available farmland has been converted to these industrial farms.

MONSANTO KILLS BEES
Recent studies have shown a link between systemic pesticides such as Roundup and the growing problem of Colony Collapse Disorder, a malady that is resulting in the mass die-off of bees across the world. Pollen from GMO plants can also have ill effects on the bee community. Without bees to pollinate them, plants can not reproduce. Its that simple.

SO WHAT CAN WE DO?
In the face of a massive multinational corporation like Monsanto , its easy to feel disempowered and hopeless, but fear not!

EDUCATE, EDUCATE, EDUCATE! Raising awareness about Monsanto is step one. When you’re finished reading this, tell someone about it, get online and do your own research, pass it on to someone else! It all begins with just getting the word out to the community about what this company does and the fact that they’re doing it right here in Colorado!
There are groups here in Colorado and abroad that are actively working to expose and rein in this evil corporation. Check out GMO-Free Colorado and the March On Monsanto world event on May 25, 2013.

On an individual level, one of the most important things we can do to combat Monsanto is DON’T GIVE THEM YOUR MONEY! Boycott Roundup and other Monsanto products, try to avoid buying processed foods and commercially grown vegetables, start buying your produce at local farmers markets and organic food stores instead of the big chains.

RESISTANCE IS FERTILE! Instead of buying anything at all, grow your own veggies at home, or at a community garden.

SAVE YOUR SEEDS! When growing your own food, make sure to use organic, heirloom seeds that can re-germinate and be used over and over. One of the ways Monsanto has forced out small farmers is to genetically modify their seeds so they don’t reproduce, forcing farmers to buy new seed for every crop. By saving seeds and sharing them with other farmers and gardeners, we can make sure that we maintain the thriving biodiversity this world so desperately needs.